Kansas City Chiefs Rumors & News

The Chiefs announced that they have placed kicker Cairo Santos on IR. To take his place, the team has signed kicker Harrison Butker off of the Panthers’ practice squad.

The reason for Santos’ placement on IR is not immediately clear. He struggled with a groin pull in the summer, so it’s possible that he reaggravated that injury.

“The ball gets heavier (when it rains) and I just felt sore,” Santos said in early September (via Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star). “The next time I kicked, it just got worse and worse until I felt a pop on one of practice kicks. That’s when I knew something was wrong with it.”

Santos, 26 in November, was perfect through three games. He nailed all three of his field goal tries and made 100% of his extra point attempts.

We’re coming up on Week 4 of the NFL season and that means that waiver claim priority will be based on the current league standings instead of last year’s. Of course, waiver priority is based on the inverted NFL standings, which have built in tiebreakers to sort out the many logjams that naturally occur.

Throughout the offseason and the first three weeks of the regular season, the Browns enjoyed top priority thanks to their 1-15 finish last year. Now, we have a brand new pecking order. Here is a full rundown of the current waiver claim priority, which will change from week to week (Twitterlinksvia Field Yates of ESPN.com):

The Chiefs worked out free agent tight end Jace Amaro on Thursday, Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star tweets.

The 25-year-old Amaro has been on the hunt for a third NFL employer since the Titans cut him Sept. 3. Amaro, formerly with Texas Tech, entered the league as a second-round pick of the Jets in 2014 and totaled 38 receptions and two touchdowns in his rookie season. The Jets cut him prior to Week 1 last year, though, and he went on to appear in just three of the Titans’ games in 2016, catching three passes for 59 yards.

If he signs with Kansas City, Amaro would vie for a role behind star tight end Travis Kelce. Demetrius Harris is the only one of Kelce’s backups who has been a factor at all in the Chiefs’ offense this year, having hauled in two of Alex Smith‘s throws for 15 yards.

Speaking of injury returns, it sounds like the Chiefs are planning to make cornerback Steven Nelson one of their IR-boomerang players. The third-year corner is eligible to come off IR in Week 9, and Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star notes that return is likely. For the time being, the Chiefs have gotten by with 2016 practice squad promotion Terrance Mitchell operating as Marcus Peters‘ top complement. However, Pro Football Focus rates Mitchell and Phillip Gaines — the former third-round pick whom Mitchell usurped late last season — as its Nos. 96 and 100 full-time cornerbacks through two games. A core muscle injury sidelined Nelson, K.C.’s primary slot defender last season.

Center Mitch Morse suffered a foot sprain during Sunday’s Chiefs game, but an MRI revealed that he won’t require surgery, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Nevertheless, Morse will be sidelined for a “few weeks” as he recovers, per Rapoport. Morse, 25, has started 33 contests in two-plus years with Kansas City, but the club will now be forced to turn to other options. Zach Fulton took over at the pivot yesterday, while recent trade acquisition Cameron Erving could also be a candidate for snaps. The Chiefs face the Chargers, Redskins, Texans, and Steelers over the next month.

For the third time this month, running back C.J. Spiller has been let go by the Chiefs. According to Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star (via Twitter), the organization is releasing the veteran. Running back Akeem Hunt will be promoted from the practice squad to take Spiller’s spot on the roster.

It’s been a hectic September for Spiller. Kansas City initially signed the 30-year-old back in February, but he was released in early September. The team re-signed him the next day, only for them to release him once again less than a week later. Finally, the team signed him a third time last week… only to release him today. The 2010 first-round pick ultimately didn’t see the field during his Chiefs tenure, although nobody would be shocked if the front office signs him once again.

Spiller compiled 1,244 rushing yards back in 2012, but he’s only collected 1,363 rushing yards in the four seasons since. The veteran has bounced around the league since leaving Buffalo following the 2014 season. He initially signed a four-year deal with the Saints in 2015, but he was released by the squad after only one season. He split the 2016 campaign between the Seahawks and Jets, compiling 18 rushing yards on six carries. He also added another six receptions for 50 yards, emphasizing the pass-catching ability he’s shown throughout his career.

Hunt, a 2015 undrafted free agent out of Purdue, joined the Chiefs practice squad earlier this month. The 24-year-old appeared in 15 games with the Texans between 2015 and 2016, compiling 205 rushing yards on 37 carries. He also added another nine receptions for 68 yards, as well as 10 kick returns for 213 yards (21.3-yard average). Hunt will presumably inherit Spiller’s spot on the depth chart behind Kareem HuntandCharcandrick West.